According to a plea agreement with the Brazos County district attorney’s office, 24 year old Colton Bradley was sentenced to 14 years after pleaded guilty to manslaughter and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to the DA’s news release, Bradley’s blood alcohol level was more than one and half times the legal limit at point .131 three and a half hours following the collision at 29th and Briarcrest.
An accident reconstruction team determined that Bradley’s Camaro was traveling more than 70 miles an hour when it ran a red light and struck the pickup.
Bradley will have to serve at least half of the 14 year sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Bradley and prosecutors also reached a plea agreement where he admitted to bail jumping after missing a court hearing last November. While Bradley was sentenced to five years, this will be served at the same time as the manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon convictions.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
Colton Bradley pled guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison on May 18, 2022 for Manslaughter from a fatal crash in Bryan in 2020.
On Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 4:50 in the morning, Bryan PD officers were sent to East 29th Street and Briarcrest on a major accident. James Ragsdale (27) was removed from the passenger seat of a Camaro. Officers were not able to revive him and he died from blunt force trauma. Bradley was the driver of the vehicle and also sustained multiple injuries. He made several comments about being intoxicated. He failed field sobriety exercises and was arrested.
Officers got a search war-rant for the defendant’s blood. Three and a half hours after the crash he had a blood alcohol concentration of .131. The legal limit is .08.
Accident reconstruction showed that the defendant was traveling over 70 mph northbound on 29th Street when he ran the red light at Briarcrest. A couple in a pickup were travelling westbound on Briarcrest with a green light when the defendant pulled in front of them. After that collision, the defendant’s vehicle crashed into another car that was stopped at the red light. That driver and the couple also sustained injuries and were transported to the hospital.
The defendant was charged with three counts of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon for those individuals and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of those charges. The Manslaughter and Assault charges are all 2nd degree felonies with a possible punishment of 2-20 years in prison. All charges also have an affirm-ative deadly weapon finding, which means he must serve at least half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.